The Greenville times., 1887-06-18

tion will increase yield in crop by
making more inert plant food that
is stored in the soil available; but /
It viii also help to exhaust the fer
tility of the land more rapidly. |
The western wheat grower with |
his heavy teams of from two to |
six horses, deep working plOws,
harrows, eultivators and other i'm
plements, produces large crops,
but he uses up fertility to the ex-
tent of reducing yield below the
profit point in from ten to fifteen
years. With no more overhows
and the introduction of thorough /
drainage, the best deep working
implements aided by light appli.
cations of concentrated fertilizer
and the removal of the entire crop,
the same result will in time be |
brought about on these so called |
inexhaustible lands. The first
thing to guard against then is the
too rapid removal of fertility. |
neither advocate nor practice what |
Is called the intensive system of
farming which includes large ex
penditures in fertilizers and labor
on a small area of land but | would
not have you understand that | am
recommending poor farming to
prevent exhaustion ofsoil fertility.
We may save fertility by remov-
ing from the farm only such pro
duets as do not contain large guam
titles of costly plant food. Cotton
lint for instance may be sold with
out loss, but the cotton seed con-
tains costly fertilizing matter. But
we need not discuss this particular
part OF the question. We should
ask first, is cotton the most profit.
able crop to grows Second, if it
makes the largest return of any
crop at PRESENT. Can we expect
that the yield will not decrease
without the use of fertilizers ? If
not, how can we most cheaply
keep up fertility and continue to
grow large crops of cotton?
SO much is said about the mex.
haustible fertility Of the lands of
the Delta that it may be taken for
granted by some that they will
last forever. Careful questioning
of several large planters from diff
ferent counties lying along the
river brings out the following opin-
ion in regard to this matter. On
good average bottom land three
years. cultivation is required to
thoroughly break and subdue the
new land, and two more years to
reach maximum yield, and five
more years to free the land from
stumps. With o favorable season
and thorough work 800 pounds o1
lint may be produced per acre the
first year, and with everything ia
vorable the yield may increase
until 1t reaches 600 or even 70(
pounds by the fifth year. During
the second five years of cultivation
the yield remains about stationary
varying with the uncertainties o.
the season; but after the tentl
year of cultivation the yield grad
ually decreases so that after tho
fifteenth year it drops below 5Ot
pounds, and after the twentieth
year to 400 pounds, and then tC
800 pounds, or one.half of the
yield made by the land at its best
This decrease in yield on the ole
land is often charged to unfav0r
able seasons, and not to the wear
ing out of the lands. If | an
rightly informed the land passes
the maximum production point JUS
as the soil is freed from stumps
and gotten into condition to be
most economically titled, am. after
twenty or twenty. five years, If VIC
may Judge by the results, the lanc
has deprecated In value more thar
fifty per cent on what it was in
trinsically worth at the end of ter
years of cultivation.
II my information is correct
the loss of an annual yield of from
100 to 800 pounds of lint cotton
represents a more rapid deprecla
ton for the time than will be found
in any other large section of the
country.
Reasoning from analogy there
should be some method by which
this shrinkage In production car
4 be checked, for 1t has been dem
onstrated in every one of the Older
States that under careful system
of cropping and fertilization, the
virgin yield of new land can moi
only be equaled but surpassed Oh
old land.
There is one point III farming
that has been fully demonstrated
the world over, and that is that
no land can be kept continually in
cultivation and be made to produce
large crops when the entire CROP
is removed without large appli
cations of manure. Another poini
fully settled also Is that where
cultivated crops alternate will
grass or other crops that shades
and fills the soil with roots, ligh
application of manure will retair
and even increase productive ca
pacity. In a dozen different statel
wheat on virgin soils has yielded
, on the average somewhere in. th'
, sicinity of25 bushels per acre II
! a favorable season. Continues
| wheat growing has in all cas-
t brought the average yield dow
| to something like ten bushels t
. the acre. The time varies witt
: the original fertility of the sol
! from 5 to 10 or 20 years. 1t ha
] been found in nearly all case
] where 1t has been tried, that til
alienation of wheat with cor
| Al Il -.